Kenyans of Somali origin have made significant contributions in many fields including media and journalism.
They have played a crucial role in shaping the media industry both locally and internationally.
In this article, WoK looks at journalists who have taken over the media industry by a storm.
Ayub Abdikadir
Ayub Abdikadir currently works at Royal Media Services-owned TV station, Citizen TV.
He joined Citizen TV from K24 TV.
He came into the limelight over a debate involving IEBC Chairman Wafula Chebukati and CEO Hussein Marjan over the vetting and awarding of a mega tender to Smartmatic elections company.
Priot to joining media, Ayub was a former personal assistant to a politician before debuting on Ebru TV as a news anchor.
Jamila Mohamed
Jamila Mohamed is Citizen TV’s managing editor.
She joined Citizen TV from Nation Media Group (NMG) where she served as manager programming and content development for NTV.
The highflying journalist has also previously served as managing editor for QTV and reporter-cum-news anchor for NTV.
She started her career at Iqra FM in 2000 as a sales representative before joining the radio newsroom as a newsreader.
After her short stint at Iqra FM, she joined the Nation Media Group (NMG) where she worked for a total of 16 years.
Hussein Mohamed
Hussein Mohamed was in October 2022 appointed State House Spokesperson, replacing Kanze Dena-Mararo.
He had previously served as the Head of Communications in the William Ruto Presidential Campaign.
Mohamed left Royal Media Services-owned station Citizen TV in 2019 where he had worked as a news anchor for over 10 years.
After exiting citizen TV, Hussein has been working as a communications consultant with NGOs.
Kaltun Jama
Kaltun Jama began her career in a Somali radio station where she served as a reporter earning Ksh 8,000 a month.
She later rose up the ranks after landing a job at the Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) before joining NTV.
Kaltun has worked previously with Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada as a Program Officer, and with the American School of Creative Science as an Educator.
In 2021, she disclosed that her dad is Laikipia East MP Amin Deddy Mohamed Ali.
Shukri Wachu
Shukri Wachu is currently working as a freelance journalist.
He is among K24 journalists who were fired in 2020 when Mediamax Limited fired over 100 employees across various departments.
Journalists fired from the station include those from People Daily, K24 and the other platforms such as Kameme TV and various radio stations.
Faizal Ahmed
Ahmed Faizal works at Royal Media Services as a business reporter.
He works in special features and news items for Citizen TV prime time news.
He is married to NTV news anchor Zainab Ismail.
Hussein Mohammed
Hussein Mohammed worked at KTN News as a Crimes and Investigations editor, news anchor and reporter.
He had served at the Standard Media-owned TV station for over 9 years.
Mohammed did a number of special features including Jihadi Bribes where the he exposed the lives of al-Shabaab and children theft syndicate among others.
He currently works as the Senior Broadcast journalist at BBC Africa.
